Mumbai:
Filmmaker Rahul Rawail on September 24, accused panel chairperson Amol Palekar of having an agenda not to let
Court be selected as India's official entry for the Oscars, but yet wanting to be the "hero" behind its selection.
"Our chairman Amol Palekar had only one agenda right from the beginning that
Court shouldn't come. He was very adamant that somehow
Court should be removed. I don't know the reason behind this but it is true. You can ask anyone else in the jury about it and they'll say that it is correct," said Mr Rawail.
"The thing he is saying that Rahul Rawail resigned after
Court was selected is wrong. And that I resigned because he wasn't happy with
Court. But I resigned before the last vote," he added.
When the panel brought it down to the four best films, a poll was conducted where Mr Rawail claims that Mr Palekar manipulated the votes by saying that
Court stood last, tied along with another film. After cross-checking, it was revealed that
Court had stood second in the votes and not last as earlier claimed.(Also Read:
Rahul Rawail Resigns From Oscar Jury, Calls Amol Palekar 'Manipulative')
Mr Rawail also said that Mr Palekar constantly tried to push
Court out of contention by saying that it had a substantial amount of dialogues in English, a criteria considered by the Academy Awards committee. Mr Palekar's claims about this were not true and didn't convince the other jury members, held Mr Rawail.
During the jury voting, there was constantly a tie between the last two films,
Court and another one, where Mr Palekar even suggested tossing the coin to resolve the impasse. However Mr Rawail thought that this was ridiculous and considered resigning from the post so that the impasse is solved. When that didn't resolve and it was Mr Palekar's turn to put in his vote, he shocked everyone with a U-turn, he alleged.
"He doesn't like the film and he has attempted at every step to remove
Court. But then during the voting time, he eventually voted for
Court. All were surprised with this decision. A person who was trying since 8 days so that
Court doesn't come, suddenly voted for
Court. Mr Palekar wants to give an impression that he is the hero of
Court, by portraying that he pushed it up," said Mr Rawail.
Mr Rawail also said that Mr Palekar's wife attended the screening and told the members that a particular film was good and to consider aspects like photography of a film. She had even termed
Court as a horrible movie. Mr Rawail said that she didn't have the right to do so and as chairman, Mr Palekar should have stopped this.
Directed by Chaitanya Tamhane,
Court was selected as India's official entry to the Oscars for Best Foreign Film, on September 23.